Sealing device for refrigerating apparatus



March 9 1926.

A. s. LIMPERT Er AL SEALING DEVICE FOR REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Original Filed ADIil 21, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet l A TTORNEVS March 9 ,1926; 1,575,850

A. S. LIMPERT ET AL SEALING DEVICE FOR REFRIGERATING PPARATUS original Filed April 21, 192:5 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented ,Man 9, :1926.

UNI-TED STA-TES;

'PATENT oFFl-CE.

'ALEXANDER s. LIMPERT AND vsYI'NEs'rEa A.ALIMPEM, oE BAY sIIonE, NEW Yoan,

AssIGNoIt's To LIMPERT ICE MACHINE CORPORATION oF NEW Yo'EK.-

CORPORATION, -OIF NEW YORK, N. 4Y., 'A

SEALINQ DEVICE .FOR REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.'

To all whom it may concern Be it known thatwe, ALEXANDER S.' LIM- rER'r and SYLvEs'rER A. LIMPERT, both citizens of the United States, residing at Bay Shore, in the county of Suffolk and State. of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in SealingDevices for Refrigerating Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the so called mechanical refrigeration art and has lfor its object the provision of a greatly simplified apparatus of' this character which can -be relied upon to perform its function with the least possible annoyance, trouble and atten? tion. W'e also propose to supply a machine which can bemanufactured at a considerably' less cost' than has lhitherto been possible and one which will be extremely economical to operate. In accomplishing the foregoing we provide a novel sealing mechanism for the compressor.

'As is well known in this art the4 cold is produced by liquefying a gas such as" am- Inoniav or sulphur-dioxide and'tlien allowing itto evaporate to absorb heat, the coil in.

.which the expansion takes place being located generally in a brine tank. Therefrigerant in nearly all cases' is extremely `volatile and highly objectionable if permitted to enter the air and for this reason it. is very important that no leakage from the'` machine takes place. It is just as important that no leakage from the air into the machine Vtakes place for much leakage in either direction would soon put the apparatus out of commission. A. great many of the difliculties heretofore encountered in mechanical refrigeration. .have been associated with this question ofv leakage and by our invention we aim to completely overcome these .diiculties and in so doing we obtain -all of the objects above specified 4or hereinafter n to be noted in connection with the description of our: device.

Our improved sealing device comprises a twistable or flexible housing which surrounds the shaft utilized in driving the compresser. Such housing is tightly secured to the compressor and to the shaft so that it is impossible for'any refrigerant to'escape to the air or for any air to enter the system-1 Application nl'ed April 21, 192s, serial No.v 633,571. Renewed-ot-.mbe1-iao, 19.25.

Abearings fori'he operating shaft.

Referring lrst to the diagrammatic layout of Fig. 4 it will he seen that we have therein illustrated a compressor C which we have provided with a .pair of cylinders 1, preferably vertically disposed, which are arranged to deliver the compressed refrigerant through the pipe 2 to the vcondenser B. After the compressed gas has been condensed into a liquid it is lconducted through the pipe 3 to any suitable typev of pressure reducing valveA. After the pressure has been sultably reduced lthe liquid is permitted to vaporize in the coil 4 located in the brine tank 5. This produces cold inthe manner well understood in this art. The expanded gases flow hack to the compressor through the pipe 6. A motor D is used for operating the condenser through the medium of connections which will be described-hereinafter. The motor is supplied with current from the `mains 7 through the medium of wires 8 and whenever the temperature in the brine tank falls below a .certain predetermined point.l The switch 13 will then be drawn over or to the left in order to close the break in the two l l branches of the wire 8 previously referred to. When this is accomplished the motor D is set inoperation. v

By referring to Fig. 2 it will be seen that there is a piston 14 in each of the cylinders 1. Uncondensed gas is ltaken from the base chamber 1 5 of' the compressor C `and passed up through the piston through the inlet valves 16. Compression of the gas then takes place after which discharge occurs through the exhaust valves .17.' The device we have illustrated shows a pair of cylinders although it will be understood that a single cylinder could be used if desired or more could be used should occasion seem to demand or make advisable.

The motor D drives the compressor pistons through the medium of the drivingl pulley 18, the driven pulley 19 on the end of the shaft 2O and the belt 21. A suitably mounted idler pulley 22 can be used for adjusting the belt. Other forms of drive mi ght be used but we have found this to be very satisfactory.

Instead otl using the rotary motion o f the motor directly we prefer to transform 1t 1nto an oscillatory motion forreasons which will appear below in connection with the description of our improved sealing device. This transfer is accomplished in what we have termed our eccentric chamber F. The link 23 is mounted eccentric'ally on the end of the shaft 2O and-as rotation of the shaft 2O takes place and up and down motion is imparted to the link 21 which is pivoted at one end to the link 23 and secured at the other end to the oscillating shaft 25. The oscillating shaft 25 extends into the base 15 of the compressorC in which it has a bearing' 26. The motion of the shaft is imparted to the pistons through the medium of a rocking bar 27 and the links or piston rods 28. It will therefore be seen that as one piston is drawn downwardly the other pist0n is pushed upwardly. This makes a nicely balanced construction and we prefer the use of two cylinders instead of one.

rl`he problem is to successfully seal the member or shaft which connects the compressor with the power means. Our improved sealing means for this purpose comprises an outer flexible or twistable housing 29 and an inner\ similarly characterized housing 30. A free floating' ring or collarlike member 31 is placed on the shaft 25, such member being provided with two portions ofydifferent diameters, namely, a small diameter portion 32 and a large diameter portion 33.

The compressor casing is provided with a hub 31 surrounding the shaft 25 which is of a diameter substantially equal to the enlarged portion of the ring or collar 31. At a point adjacent this hub the shaft 25 is provided wit-h an enlargement or shoulder 35 of a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of the portion 32 of the ring 3l. The collar or ring 3l is placed on the I shaft with the smaller diameter port-ion projecting toward t-he shoulder 35 on the shaft, as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

The inside housing or hose is of a size to fit over the shoulder 35 and the portion 32 to which members its ends are securely clamped by means of the band clamps 36. .The Outside housing or bese 29 is Of a Size forms a continuous unbroken enclosure fromcompressor to shaft, although the housing is composed of a plurality of sections joined together.

The flexible housing' is preferably a still?, high grade, rubber hose with substantial thickness of walls although other materials might be used.

lt will be scen that with cach oscillation of the shaft 25 the housing structure as a whole will be twisted slightly iirst in one direction and then in the other. By using only the highest quality of hose and by properly proportioningthe length of the shaft 25 to the twisting capacity, as it might be termed, of the hose, it is possible to run a device of this character for a `great many months without giving' it any attention whatsoever. liurthermore, the sectional, jointed character of the housing in itself lends considerable flexibility to the seal.

It will be seen that if any leakage occurs pastthe bearing 26A it, can only enter the space between the two hoses. No leakage can possibly take place either from or into the compressor.

The power necessary to twist a housing of this character in the manner herein provided does not amount to anything at all compartively speaking so that the machine will operate more economically by far than any machine wherein the old packing gland is used. The device is absolutely fool proof and will run indefinitely, as stated, without any attention whatsoever.

7e realize that it has already been proposed to construct a sealing means of this character by the use of a single hose which is fastened at one end to the compressor casing and at the other end to the shaft.' This construction however is open to a number of objections which the present invention overcomes. It will be readily understood, of course, that the degree of twist which a particular tube will stand depends first upon its composition and sec-0nd upon its length. At first thought therefore it would seem that it would be necessary simply'to provide sufficient length of tube in order to prevent straining at any time. This means however that the two main units of the machine. namely, the compressor unit and the power unit, would have to be separated a substantial distance which imposes certain awkwardness in design. Furthermore where a long tube is used a long shaft is necessary and the longer theshaft-the greater must be its diameter is Order to sive it Strength Saf- -By roviding our improve `construction' involving the use of a large tubeloutside of a small'one, we overcome the above objections. A marked advantage ,incident to vour imshaft which is of great importance when ball bearings 38 are used as illustrated in `the modified construction of Fig. 5. As the size of ball bearings increases their cost mounts 1n an even greater ratlo. Suitable -wicks 39 may be provided for conveying oil from the base of the casing' to t e bearing. -By increasing' the diameter oft e shaft at the point where the smaller hose is .connected', we avoid all possibility o'f chafin f/or it willbe seen that -if the hose. were c ainpcd directly tothe shaft at a point of normal diameter there would be considerable fric# tion between the hose and the shaft through- -iut the major portion of Itheclength of the ose.

We wish to call attention to the fact that, where desirable, more than two housings might be used in constructing the seal. This would make use of more than one floating member but the principles involved and the general arrangement would beexactly the same.

We cla-im:

1'. Al sealing device for an oscillating refrigerant compressor -shaft comprising in combination a plurality of flexible tubes,

one within the other surrounding theshaft,

` one end of .the outside tube being secured to the com ressor, one endof the tube next to -thesha being secured to the' shaft, and rigid means at the free ends of tubes for connecting them together to forma continuous enclosure from compressor to shaft.

2. A sealing device for a refrigerantcompresser shaft -comprising in combination a provement is .that we are-enabled to use amuch smaller bearing because of the smallerv .a diameter substantially e ua plurality Mof flexible tubes, one Within the other surrounding the shaft, one end of tlie olside tube being secured to the compressor, one end of the tube next to the shaft being u securedv to the shaft, and a floating ring surroundin Jthe shaft at thel free ends of tubes to whic corresponding ends of adjacent tubes are attachedin order to form a con- -tinuous enclosure from compressor to shaft.

.3. A sealing device for an oscillating refrigerant compressor shaft' comprising in 'combination a pair of flexible housings,one

within the other, surrounding the shaft, one end of the outer housing being secured to the compressor, one end of the inner housing being secured to the shaft, and rigid means at the other ends of the housings for coupling them together.

4. A sealing device for anoscillating re- 05 frigerant compressorl shaft comprising in combination a flexible tube surrounding the shaft and secured at one end to the shaft, a

larger flexible tube surrounding said first tube and secured at the corresponding end to the compressor, and a oating ring surrounding the shaft, the free ends ofthe tubes being gsecured tothe ring.

5.-A sealing device for an oscillating refrigerant compressor shaft comprising in combination; a shoulder on the shaft, a4 should'erl on the compressor, a oating ring surrounding the shaft havin a portion oflrto that of the shoulder on the shaft an another portion 30 'of a diameter substantiallyr equal to that of y the s houldercn the compressor, a exible `tube connecting the shoulder on the shaft with the corresponding portion of the ring, anda second iexibletube surrounding said first tube and connecting the shoulder on the com ress'or with the corresponding portion on t e ring.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto signed our names- ALEXANDER S. LIMPERT.

SYLVESTER A. vI JIMPERT.4 

